Participating in meetings with other people has always been an important part of the business world. As travel technology allowed for faster travel via trains, then automobiles, and then airplanes, it became common for people from remote locations to all gather together for a meeting. A typical meeting might include a presenter at a large board, such as a chalk board, large sheet(s) of paper on a wall or easel, and, more recently, whiteboards. Thus, meeting attendees might see a presenter presenting data at a whiteboard. With progression of technology, it became common to have telephone conferences where people were all on the same telephone line. This permitted people in remote locations to attend meetings without having to take the time or expense to travel to the meeting location. Unfortunately, telephone technology permitted sound only interaction so remote attendees could not see the material presented at a writing board and/or see the expressions or gestures of other meeting attendees. As communication technology progressed, real-time video communication became available and “video conferencing” came into play that permitted remote meeting attendees to view a remote meeting/conference via a live television feed from the remote meeting location.
With particular regard to the writing board used at meetings/conferences, due to the ease of use to write and erase as well as the ease of reading dark lines on a white background, whiteboards have become a common presentation tool. The whiteboard is a simple device, having a white background flat surface that can be written on with whiteboard pens that have an ink that permits easy erasing of the whiteboard after use. While whiteboards may be the most common presentation writing tool, chalk boards (typically having a black surface) and large paper pads are also used. Typically, for cost and ease of use, the writing board tools are simple, non-electronic tools that provide a non-electronically enhanced writing surface written on and/or pointed to using non-electronically enhanced pens and pointing devices (e.g., the presenter's finger or a simple pointing stick).